Case study: Pickups and the professor

Howard Zehr, photographer and pioneering professor, tackles a book project with Photo Ninja

Professor Howard Zehr of Eastern Mennonite University is
known as the grandfather of restorative justice, an approach to
crime that emphasizes redress and rehabilition over
punishment. He is also a serious photographer, having worked
professionally in photojournalism, on assignments in two dozen
countries, and with numerous exhibits of his work.

For Zehr, photography is an effective tool for drawing
attention to the restorative justice perspective. He has authored a
series of documentary photo-essay books that rely on portraiture to
reflect on crime victims, prisoners serving life sentences without
parole, and the children of prison inmates.

It's weighty stuff, and Zehr decided to try something more
light-hearted for a change: “I needed a break after the previous
heavy subjects,” he says, “so I decided to document Virginians and
their pickup trucks. It's great fun.” The book, titled Pickups: A
Love Story, was published by Good Books in May 2013.

Five hundred files and Photo Ninja

Zehr faced a postprocessing task that many working photographers can
appreciate: Almost five hundred RAW files needed to be converted and
prepared. Productivity was a concern, and image quality had to meet
high standards. When he heard about the Photo Ninja beta test,
he inquired about joining.

Two days after starting with Photo Ninja, Zehr reported back to us:
“This is pretty breathtaking. I wasn't looking forward
to the conversion process, much less learning a new RAW
developer. In fact, Photo Ninja had a short learning curve and sped
things up considerably. It's amazing how dead-on it gets the images,
and adjustments are simple and easy to do. The portrait mode
maintains the skin tones wonderfully.”

Professor Zehr's book, Pickups: A Love Story, is available at
Amazon.
His blog on restorative justice is located
here,
and his photography website is
here.

Randy Green, one of the pickup owners
profiled in Zehr's upcoming book. This 1949 GMC pickup
originally belonged to Green's grandfather, who reportedly
kept a calendar that omitted his wedding anniversary
but clearly noted the delivery date for the pickup.
The truck has been in the family for more than 60 years,
and for Green it represents a strong, emotional tie to his
grandfather.